One-hundred and ten days after a Bethel woman reported that she was sexually assaulted, Bethel Police arrested her alleged rapist.
The woman, Juanita Nick, said that she was raped by a 32-year-old Bethel resident, Samuel Steven Jenkins, the night of Dec. 18, 2020. Jenkins faces two felony charges of sexual assault in the second degree - penetration of an incapacitated victim, and sexual assault in the third degree.
As of April 12, Jenkins was being held in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Correctional Center on $75,000 bail. He was arraigned on April 9, and his preliminary hearing will be on April 26.
After Nick reported that she was raped, she was administered a sexual assault kit at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation. She said that it took 34 days for Bethel police to pick up her sexual assault kit. Bethel police would not comment on the timeline. Several months after her initial report to police, Nick protested what she said was the criminal justice system’s inaction on her case.
Nick’s protest prompted the Bethel City Council to hire an independent investigator to review the city’s handling of sexual assault cases.
